or even a Zemski Sobor in the sense of a Consultative
Assembly, would satisfy them. They imagine that with a full-fledged
constitution they would be guaranteed, not only against administrative
oppression, but even against military reverses such as they have
recently experienced in the Far East--an opinion in which those who know
by experience how military unreadiness and inefficiency can be combined
with parliamentary institutions will hardly feel inclined to concur.

It may surprise English readers to learn that the corruption and
venality of the civil and military administration, of which we have
recently heard so much, are nowhere mentioned in the complaints and
remonstrances; but the fact is easily accounted for. Though corrupt
practices undoubtedly exist in some branches of the public service, they
are not so universal as is commonly supposed in Western Europe; and
the Russian reformers evidently consider that the purifying of the
administration is less urgent than the acquisition of political
liberties, or that under an enlightened democratic regime the existing
abuses would spontaneously disappear.

The demands put forward in St. Petersburg did not meet with universal
approval in Moscow. There they seemed excessive and un-Russian, and an
attempt was made to form a more moderate party. In the ancient Capital
of the Tsars even among the Liberals there are not a few who have a
sentimental tenderness for the Autocratic Power, and they argue that
parliamentary government would be very dangerous in a country which is
still far from being homogeneous or compact. To maintain the integrity
of the Empire, and to hold the balance equally between the various races
and social classes of which the population is composed, it is necessary,
they think, to have some permanent authority above the sphere of party
spirit and electioneering strife. While admitting that the Government
in its present bureaucratic form is unsatisfactory and stands in need
of being enlightened by the unofficial classes, they think that a
Consultative Assembly on the model of the old Zemski Sobors would be
infinitely better suited to Russian wants than a Parliament such as that
which sits at Westminster.

For a whole month the Government took little notice of the unprecedented
excitement and demonstrations. It was not till December 25th that a
reply was given to the public demands. On that day the Emperor signed an
ukaz in which he enumerated the reforms